In the heart of our bustling city, where dreams are pursued with relentless passion, I would like to share a story of hope, determination, and the incredible bond between a patient and her IVF doctor. This is the tale of a 45-year-old CEO, a woman who had conquered the corporate world but faced her greatest challenge yet: becoming a mother.
For years, she believed that her fact that she ran marathons regularly and had regular menstrual cycles meant she could conceive whenever she was ready. But as she soon discovered, reproductive aging doesn’t always align with our plans. Ovarian age does not correlate with calendar age because the ovary does not produce any new eggs after birth., Ovarian reserve starts declining from the age of 35, and this drop is precipitate after 42. Sadly, she didn’t know this, and was distraught when she couldn’t get pregnant when she was ready to have a baby !
She visited several fertility clinics in her pursuit of a baby, and by the time she came to me, she had done over 10 IVF cycles all over the world. Each cycle had failed, and the number of eggs the doctor could collect kept on dropping, so that in her last 2 cycles, they were not able to retrieve any eggs at all, inspite of using a maximal dose of superovulation drugs . Most doctors after reviewing her bulging file had advised her to consider using donor eggs , because her eggs were no longer good enough to make a baby.
Yet, as an only child, she yearned for a baby who shared her genetic makeup. This deeply personal desire fueled her determination to explore every possible avenue.
When she arrived at our clinic, we spent hours discussing her options and setting realistic expectations. IVF is a marvel of modern medicine, but it comes with no guarantees, especially for women with critically low ovarian reserves. Despite the emotional and financial risks, she was resolute in her decision to try with her own eggs.
We proposed a different approach: minimal stimulation. Instead of using high doses of hormones, we used very low doses, hoping to grow just one or two high-quality follicles. This method, though unconventional, ends up allowing us to collect better-quality eggs, crucial for creating a viable embryo.
Skeptical at first, she soon understood our rationale. High doses of hormones often rescue eggs that wouldn’t develop otherwise, sometimes resulting in poor-quality eggs. Our gentler approach aimed to nurture a few, but potentially better-quality, eggs.
The journey was fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. We worried about every step: would her ovaries produce any follicles? Could we retrieve an egg? Would it fertilize and grow into a healthy embryo? Throughout this process, her determination and understanding were our guiding lights. Her calm acceptance of the risks and her unwavering husband’s support inspired us to give our best.
The good news is that we did manage to collect one egg , fertilise it, grow it with tender loving care in the IVF lab , till it formed a top quality blastocyst , and then transferred this into her uterus. To our joy, she conceived in the first cycle itself, and now has a gorgeous baby, and invites us to his birthday party every year !
We are now close friends, and she encourages all the women she knows to check their ovarian reserve, and freeze their eggs if they want to postpone child bearing. She has become a walking encyclopedia on IVF, and a trusted source of fertility advice for her colleagues.
IVF gave a her a deeply loved baby , who is the apple of her eye. I once asked her – how would you have coped if you hadn’t got pregnant ? And she said – I would still have peace of mind, because this attempt gave me peace of mind that I had tried everything within her power to achieve her dream. While IVF, particularly for older women, offers no guarantees, it provides a pathway to hope. And in this journey, the partnership between patient and doctor becomes the cornerstone of building a family, blending personal determination with technological expertise to create miracles.
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